Miriam Defensor Santiago

Miriam Palma Defensor Santiago (15 June 1945-29 September 2016) was a Senator of the Philippines from the People's Reform Party from 30 June 1995 to 30 June 2001 and from 30 June 2004 to 30 June 2016. She formerly served as Secretary of Agrarian Reform from 20 June 1989 to 4 January 1990, succeeding Philip Juico and preceding Florencio Abad.

Biography
Miriam Palma Defensor was born in Iloilo City, Philippines in 1945, and she worked as a law professor for ten years, as a United Nations employee during her studies in the United States, as a lawyer, and as a judge. In 1988, she was the laureate of the Ramon Magsaysay Award for her career in public service, during which she fought against widespread graft in the government, and she went on to serve as Secretary of Agrarian Reform from 1989 to 1990. In 1992, she ran for President as the People's Reform Party founder and candidate, and she had an early lead, although she was defeated by Fidel V. Ramos due to power outages at voting stations, leading to her believing that she had won the election, but lost in the counting. However, she went on to serve as a Senator from 1995 to 2001 and from 2004 to 2016, and she was a judge of the International Criminal Court from 2012 to 2014. She died from lung cancer in 2016 at the age of 71.